Foreign Desk Report
LONDON: Russia and India eased coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday, despite facing upsurges in infections and expert warnings that the world could face a second wave epidemic.
Chinese authorities, meanwhile, moved to test the entire 11-million strong population of the city of Wuhan, cradle of the global pandemic, after new cases were reported there.
In Russia, the government began to gradually ease lockdown rules Tuesday as the country’s infections surged past 232,000 now the second most in the world after only the United States, according to media tally. The grim landmark came as President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told news agencies he has the virus.
Meanwhile, in giant India, the railway network ground back to life, in defiance of a recent surge in the number of infections, with 3,600 recorded on Monday, just below Sunday’s record tally. The country of 1.3 billion imposed a strict shutdown in late March, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has credited with keeping cases to a modest 70,000, with around 2,300 deaths.
Iran also eyed a cautious easing of its restrictions and said it would reopen mosques for three nights this week for the first time since March.
